RUSSIA: Aeroflot Resumes Moscow To Cairo Flights, After October 2015 Bombing Over Sinai Peninsula Killing 224 On Board

Aeroflot resumed regular flights from Moscow to Cairo on April 11.

Aeroflot’s Airbus A320 aircraft will serve the route thrice per week, departing and arriving from Sheremetyevo International Airport’s (SVO) Terminal F.

Even though air service between Russia and Egypt has been interrupted for such a long time, the load factor on upcoming flights is more than 85%, Aeroflot says.

Aeroflot says that it has booked nearly 3,750 seats from SVO–CAI and over 3,700 CAI–SVO from now until the end of the Summer.

Flight SU 400 – Departs from SVO at 20:50 to arrive in CAI at 00:25. Frequency: it will be operated weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays.

Flight SU 401 – Departs from SVO at 01:25 to arrive in CAI at 06:50. Frequency: it will be operated weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

From June 12 until July 2, Aeroflot will fly daily between both cities due to the increased demand for air transportation while Summer comes to an end.

In October 2015, the bombing of a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula killed 224 people onboard. As a result, Moscow suspended all operations to Egypt.

Russia stopped flights to Cairo lasting more than two years.

This has adversely affected Egyptian tourism, which is heavily dependent on Russian travelers.

In December 2017, Russian and Egyptian officials signed a security cooperation protocol in order to restart services.

Since the attack, claimed by the extremist Islamic State group, the northeast African country guarantees it has acquired monitoring cameras, modern baggage-scanning equipment, finger-print security gates, among other features.

Aeroflot serves 1,074 destinations along with its partners in 177 countries across the world and it manages one of the youngest fleets in the world with 232 aircraft, consisting of 76 Airbus A320-200, 38 A321-200, five A330-200, 17 A330-300, 38 Boeing 737-800, 16 Boeing 777-300ER, and 42 Sukhoi Superjet 100-95.

Aeroflot is expecting another 100 aircraft, including six Airbus A320-200, four A321-200, 14 A350-900, 12 Boeing 737-800, six 777-300ER, eight Sukhoi Superjet 100-95 and 50 brand new Irkut MC-21-300.

Last year, the Russian airline handled a total of 32.8 million passengers. 50.1 million passengers as Aeroflot Group including its subsidiaries.


Tourism Observer

EGYPT: Go Bus Ticket Goes Up Starting Eid holiday

Go Bus tourist transport company is set to increase its prices by EGP 10 on all trips starting from the Eid holiday, before raising the prices again to offset the losses it incurred following the flotation of the pound that hiked prices of spare parts and maintenance costs.

Maher Nassif, chairperson of the company, said his company had given up 50% of its profits this current year following the flotation, as it could not raise the prices with the same value of the flotation in order to keep its clients.

He added that the company will raise ticket prices by EGP 10 for all trips starting next week.

Nassif said that the price per ticket from Cairo to Hurghada or Sharm El Sheikh start from EGP 95 to EGP 280, while the price from Cairo to Marina ranges between EGP 130 and EGP 160. The price from Cairo to Marsa Matrouh is set at EGP 120.

Ticket prices from Cairo to Alexandria begin at EGP 55 to EGP 70, and EGP 115 to EGP 185 from Cairo to Dahab.

Nassif pointed out that the company will have 20 additional trips on Eid days to Marsa Matouh, the North Coast, Hurghada, and Sharm El-Sheikh due to the high demand for reservations, especially to the Marsa Matrouh governorate, which alone, will see the addition of six more trips.

He noted that the company has launched its Cairo-Dahab line and plans on opening new lines to other tourist destinations, especially as the seasonal lines are only active for specific times, such as the North Coast and Marsa Matouh.

Nassif also said that the company has added 25 new MCV buses with investments of EGP 100m last week.

He added that the company is negotiating with Saudi Arabia to transport pilgrims into the country next season and is currently expecting a reply from the kingdom after the end of the current season.

Nassif stressed that the tourism transport industry is currently suffering from the high cost of buses, including imported models and locally assembled ones, next to the surge in prices of spare parts, which hinders renewing the fleets of the companies.

EGYPT: Egypt To Lure Back Tourists Within Six Months

Egypt's Minister of Tourism has unveiled a six-point plan designed to win back tourists within six months.

But the plans make no reference to security concerns that have led to UK operators cancelling their Sharm el Sheikh programmes and scaling back their operations to Hurghada and other tourist hotspots.

Overseas visitor numbers to Egypt fell dramatically by 40% in the first four months of 2016, compared with two years ago.


Announcing the '6x6 Tourism Impact Plan', His Excellency Yehia Rashed said he hoped it would 'revive the fortunes of the critical tourism sector'.

"My one and only goal is to bring huge numbers of tourists back to Egypt," he said.

"To do this we need concerted action and partnership with Egyptian and international tourism stakeholders. The 6x6 Tourism Impact Plan is all about action that brings together the priority areas of Egyptian tourism, providing support and enhancements as we move forward."

The six themes are:

- Working with international tourism partners to restore success

- Working in partnership with Egypt's national carrier, EgyptAir, to develop new destinations, and to support charter and low cost airline companies in bringing more tourists to Egypt

- Enhancing Egypt's tourism infrastructure by supporting investors and innovating with new ideas

- Raising the bar by meeting the highest international standards through upgraded product and service levels at tourist facilities

- Working to bring foreign direct investment to Egyptian tourism

- Developing the growing trend in Egyptian tourism of sustainable eco-friendly accommodation, transportation, and activities.

The Tourism Minister admitted the six-month time frame was 'very ambitious'.

"But I am also ambitious for our tourism sector. I want to see positive action and for that action to have an immediate impact. 6x6 allows us to focus our energies on the most important elements," he said.

Egypt's tourism has been severely hit since amid security fears.

The UK's Department for Transport ordered UK airlines to cancel regular services to Sharm el Sheik last November after it was found that a bomb that brought down a Russian holiday jet in the Sinai had been smuggled on board at Sharm airport.

A group linked to Islamic State (IS) said it bombed the plane, which had just taken off from the airport.

Egypt insists it has since stepped up security at its airports and at its Red Sea resorts, with extra security staff, sniffer dogs, CCTV cameras and X-ray machines.

But the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not changed its advice.

Thomas Cook and Monarch Airlines have cancelled flights to Sharm for this summer.

EasyJet has also cancelled its flights to Sharm from Gatwick, Manchester and Luton for the summer, but is hoping to resume flights from Stansted as soon as the UK government says it is safe to do so.

Thomson has cancelled most flights to Sharm until the end of September, but it is hoping to relaunch weekly flights from Gatwick and Manchester on May 26 if it gets the government go-ahead.

BA flights to the resort have been cancelled until June 30.

Thomas Cook Cancels Summer Departures To Sharm el Sheikh

Thomas Cook has cancelled all departures to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh until at least October 31st.

The tour operator had previously said the security situation in the Red Sea resort would see all holidays cancelled or postponed until May 25th.

However, with no change to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office advice with regards to travel to Sharm el Sheikh airport, Thomas Cook took the decision to extend the black out.

A statement read: “We appreciate that this may be frustrating for our customers who have been looking forward to their holiday and we would like to assure them that we are doing our upmost to ensure they are still able to enjoy a Thomas Cook holiday. “

Customers who are due to travel to Sharm el Sheikh before the end of October are able to cancel or amend their holiday to another destination free of charge.

At the same time, customers who wish to re-book an alternative summer 2016 holiday are being offered free amendments to an alternative Thomas Cook holiday of their choice, paying only any difference in price.

Thomas Cook is individually contacting customers whose bookings are affected, prioritising those due to travel soonest.